Smile
by bleachlover1999
Summary: They met by accident, but that didn't make their meeting any less significant.


A/N: Please people, we need some more Yuni x Tsuna fanfics! Rise up and write your own!

Just a note: I fail at writing angst or sad stories.

Summary: They met by accident, but that didn't make their meeting any less significant.

Found this poem, by the way:

"Swans sing before they die - 'twere no bad thing

Did certain persons die before they sing."

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

When Yuni went to buy groceries, she didn't expect to run into bullies.

"Hand over the money, punk!"

"I-I don't have any!"

A boy was being surrounded by a group of older boys, arms raised in defense.

"Not so tough anymore without those dogs of yours around, aren't you?" A bald guy, the leader of the gang, raised his fist as though to hit the boy. That was when Yuni moved.

The gang blinked when a girl stood between them and the boy, arms outstretched. "Please, stop."

"Hah? Who do you think you are?" A boy with red hair stepped forward, a sneer painted on his face, but the leader held out an arm to stop him.

"Wait."

He turned to Yuni. "You're lucky that I don't hit women. Now beat it."

"Will you still hurt him?"

The leader gave Yuni an incredulous look and kicked dirt at Tsuna with his shoes, "What, this loser? He's got nothing to do with you, so just run along now."

"I refuse."

"Why you -," The leader's face turned red and he cracked his knuckles. "Look, I may have said that I don't hit women, but I didn't say the same for these guys behind me -"

"Princess!"

Yuni turned in relief when a blonde man in a black suit ran up to them. So he _did _follow her after all, as loyal as he was, even if it was just a grocery trip. Sometimes, he reminded her of a dog. "Gamma!"

But as happy as she was to see him, Yuni couldn't help but feel a little bitter. She knew how to defend herself, having learned martial arts, but the mere thought of hitting someone made her cringe. The thought of how much pain the victim would be in made her hesitate, and that was enough time for Gamma to jump in. Yup, he was a puppy alright, a puppy that was so loyal that it bordered stalking.

The man finally reached them and crossed his arms, taking advantage of his height to scowl down at the gang. "And just _what_, exactly, were you doing?"

Yuni knelt down before the boy as Gamma chased the gang off. "Are you alright?"

"Yes… you came before they did anything," The boy said quietly, slowly lowering his raised arms. "Thank you."

She smiled and helped the boy up. "Don't worry about it. Besides, I didn't really do anything."

_'Well, that's true,'_ Yuni thought to herself, smile still not wavering in the slightest. No matter how dark she felt in the inside, it was never reflected on the outside, marring the radiant smile that blinded others.

The boy looked warily at Gamma, who was still shouting profanities at the fleeing gang. "Is he your bodyguard?"

"Something like that. He may look scary, but he's really just a harmless puppy on the inside," Yuni reassured him, internally wincing at Gamma's coarse language.

"I'm sure he is," The boy replied, giving her a feeble smile, nowhere as bright as hers, but just as warm. "He would really do just about anything for you, wouldn't he?"

Yuni, for once, was surprised, but it only lasted for a few moments. She gazed at the man who had practically raised her from when she was a baby to the teenage girl she was now, chuckling quietly. "I suppose he would. Makes him even more like a puppy, doesn't it?"

The boy nodded, and their conversation was over as soon as Gamma reappeared, redirecting his sharp glare to the boy.

"And what are _you_ doing with the Princess?"

"M-me? Uh, she saved me from those bullies before you chased them off." Tsuna fidgeted nervously before bowing to the man. "T-thank you very much for that!"

Gamma huffed and looking away. "Ain't nothing to thank me for, kid. I was only protecting the Princess."

There was, however, a faint blush on his cheeks. Definitely a puppy.

Yuni laughed at this, and the boy did as well, his smile not as awkward as the last one. He reminded the boy of a friend of his with silver hair and a fiery attitude…

Gamma was obviously embarrassed, and he growled at the two, "Well, if you're done, I'd like to take Princess here home." He turned to face his ward with a solemn expression set on his face. "Your mother is waiting for you, Princess."

"Ah, then I'll have to hurry home." Yuni's bright blue eyes dulled when she heard the news, but only by a fraction. She turned back to the boy and held out her hand to shake with his. "It was nice meeting you, but I have to go now."

"It's okay. It was nice meeting you too."

Yuni began walking away with Gamma, stopping when she heard him calling her. "Oh, and one last thing…"

"Yes?"

"This might sound weird, but… smile."

"I am," She said, and true enough, there was her signature beam, right on her face. But it still wasn't as beauty as her real smile could be, and the boy knew that as well as she did.

"No, for real," The boy shook his head. "You look nice smiling, did you know that?"

Yuni looked down, astounded by this boy she'd just met. "Yes, I've been told before. I'm sorry, but I have to go now."

Later, as Yuni walked into her mother's room and kissed her sickly mother on the cheek, she could still heard the boy's words in her mind.

_Smile._

'_I will,'_ Yuni promised to herself, or maybe to that boy. _'Maybe not now, but one day, I will.'_

She then realized that she didn't know his name.

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

Tsuna didn't expect to see _that_ article when he opened the newspaper the very next day (something that he did once a blue moon).

"Ah, Tsu-kun, you're reading the newspaper!" Nana exclaimed happily, pausing from her stirring. Tsuna nodded absentmindedly as he read through the article about a girl who'd saved someone in a car crash. He looked for the girl's name vigilantly, and only found it after twenty minutes of carefully reading over the article.

Yuni Giglio Nero. She saved a little boy from being struck by a drunk driver, taking the hit herself, and is now in critical condition. Tsuna scoured through the page and discovered that she was in the Namimori Hospital, quite close to his house.

"What a brave girl she was, don't you think, Tsu-kun?" Nana remarked sadly as she chopped up vegetables for lunch. It dismayed her that such a young life was sacrificed, especially since she was close to her own son's age. Tsuna hummed in agreement and turned a page, before Nana heard him gasp and drop the newspaper. She was surprised when Tsuna stood abruptly and ran out of the house, the chair he sat in toppling over from the sudden action.

"Tsu-kun? Where are you going?" Nana cried out, rushing over to the doorway, but Tsuna had already turned the corner, running faster than she'd ever seen him run. In her worry for her son, Nana didn't notice the newspaper on the ground, page still flipped to a picture of a young girl with dark green hair and cerulean eyes.

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

Tsuna's mind was a whirl of thoughts, racing far ahead of him as he ran.

'_Car crash? Critical condition? There's just no way that that can be true…'_

It was irrational, and Tsuna knew that it was perfectly possible for her to be in a car crash, but for some reason, he just couldn't imagine that girl that saved him yesterday – Yuni – being in critical condition. Sure, saving someone was something she would do, just as she'd saved Tsuna, but bleeding out on the cold hard ground? Clinging to life with an oxygen mask?

No. She can't die.

He kept repeating that thought in his head, over and over again, as he ran up to the nurse behind the hospital's counter, demanding to know which room Yuni Giglio Nero was in.

_'What a brave girl she was, don't you think, Tsu-kun?'_

_ Was. _

He suddenly hated that word.

_She can't die. She can't die. She just can't!_

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

She was going to die, and Yuni knew it.

She was well aware of the fact that she would die, sooner or later. Probably sooner.

Yuni often wondered if her family was cursed to die young. She'd never met her grandmother who'd died from sickness, just like her mother was due to any day soon, at the tender age of 31. At least that boy she'd saved from that car was with his family now, safe and sound.

She breathed through the oxygen mask, pain shooting through her when her ribs protested against even the gentle motions of her chest rising up and down with her breathing. What was it that the doctor had said again? Oh yeah, 4 ribs, 1 arm, and 1 leg broken, and a severely pierced lung, not to mention heavy internal bleeding. She was dying alright. Heck, it was a miracle that she was still alive.

Gamma wasn't there, having been sent out of the country to handle some business while her mother was sick in bed. So Yuni was alone, with no one there with her as she lay on her death bed, literally, in the completely white room reeking of chemicals.

White. It was the color she hated the most.

Others might think that it represents purity and good, but she knew better. That boy she'd once dreamt of, that albino boy dressed completely in white, lilac eyes that stared right into you… it frightened her. It was like her body was screaming for her to get away from that man, as fast as humanly possible.

But that dream was always replaced by other dreams, ones that contained flames, burning in the colors of the rainbow. Yuni naturally gravitated towards the orange flame, finding complete peace within it. She craved that peace, and it was that peace she felt when she'd saved that boy the other day.

And it was then that Tsuna burst into her room, panting heavily, his gravity-defying hair even messier than usual. Brown eyes immediately found hers, and he stood there for a few seconds before he quietly closed the door behind him.

Speak of the devil.

There was a moment of silence before he spoke.

"That was really brave, you know. Saving the life of a boy that you don't even know."

Yuni cracked a smile. It was bright and beautiful, but to Tsuna, it looked absolutely out of place on her face, still paling from blood loss. "Didn't I save you too?"

"Yeah, I guess you did."

They fell into silence once again, and Tsuna stood awkwardly at the foot of her bed, staring down at his shoes. Yuni found it slightly amusing that they were orange.

"I'm dying."

Tsuna's face jerked up as soon as the words left her mouth, a conflicted look on his face.

"It's true," Yuni said softly, that smile still on her face. "I'm dying."

"Isn't there anything –"

Yuni cut him off before he got any hopeful thoughts into his head. Or hers. Maybe both. "No. I'm dying, and I know it. There's nothing that the doctors can do."

Tsuna, for the first time in many years, glared furiously at the tubes and machines connected to her. He was angry, but at what, he wasn't sure. Maybe he was angry at the doctors, who couldn't do anything to help her, or all those expensive equipment for being unable to save her. What was the point of them if they only held her back from crossing over to the afterlife with feeble strings that could snap anytime?

Or maybe it was God. Why couldn't God have prevented this from happening? She was still alive, but for how much longer? And why wasn't anyone with her? Why is she just laying here all alone, knowing that she is going to die?

'_What cruel kindness,_' Tsuna thought.

"It's strange, you know," Yuni murmured, looking down at her hands. Tsuna didn't say anything, and she took that as her cue to continue. "It feels like I've known you for a long time, even if I just met you yesterday."

"Same for me," Tsuna sighed, tracing patterns on Yuni's blanket.

"Do you believe in Parallel Worlds?"

"Parallel worlds?"

Yuni nodded. "Yeah, or Parallel Universes, whichever you choose. Maybe we knew each other in one of those worlds."

"That would be nice," Tsuna admitted, lips lifting a little before drooping. "It'd be even nicer if I knew you longer."

Yuni's smile became brighter, less strange on her rapidly paling face. "It makes me happy, though. You came to visit a stranger that you've known for less than one day."

"Maybe it has something to do with those Parallel Worlds."

"Yeah, maybe."

The heart monitor suddenly showed an irregular pattern the same time Yuni began coughing violently. Panicking, Tsuna moved closer to her, hands outstretched but afraid of touching her, fearing that he might accidently hurt her. He could see that the coughing was wracking pain through her petite frame.

There were sounds of people shouting and running outside, indicating that the doctors would be here soon.

Yuni's coughing subsided enough for her to look up at him. She smiled despite the blood smudging the corners of her mouth. "I guess I'll be leaving."

The tears forming at the edge of her eyes didn't escape Tsuna.

"My name… my name's Sawada Tsunayoshi."

"Lucky Bond, huh? Well, I'm lucky to have met you."

"Yeah, me too. Meeting you is probably the luckiest thing that's going to happen to me in my life," Tsuna managed even though his heart felt like it was being violently squeezed, and his throat making it painful to speak. His own tears couldn't be held back and a few escaped.

"Maybe I lived in another Parallel World."

"Yeah, maybe."

"Maybe I didn't get into an accident in another world…" Her breathing was beginning to slow.

"I wish that you didn't."

"Maybe… maybe I'm not cursed in another world."

"God's cruel."

She smiled at him.

Tsuna held her hand, after her breathing stopped, after her eyes slid shut, after the doctors came in, and even after a disheveled Gamma entered, yelling at the doctors and pushing them away to see his princess.

But Tsuna didn't care about them, his gaze fixed on her last smile gracing her lips.

It was beautiful.


End file.
